The Bride and the Brute (3 page)

He was startled at the transformation, startled and somewhat delighted. A spark lit in his chest, warming his entire being.

I must be so tired I am hallucinating, he thought. No woman could possibly be that beautiful. In the light of day, her beauty, her vibrancy, will fade, and she will be just like the rest of the women. A small, weak thing that needs protection. My protection.

Exhaustion finally claimed him, and he stumbled back into a chair near the wall. He fell asleep quickly, a twisted resolve settling over his dark features.

Chapter Five

A warmth touched her cheeks, and Jayce instinctively turned her face toward it. But when a painfully bright light lit her closed lids, she groaned and turned away, drawing the blanket over her head.

A clucking noise greeted her movement. “You can’t lounge around in bed all day, m’lady,”

a male voice said.

At first she thought it was her father, but she knew this couldn’t be. Her father would let her sleep. Then, she remembered where she was.

And who she was.

Instantly, Jayce jerked the sheets from her head and sat up, prepared to meet her husband’s disapproving gaze. Instead, her eyes came to rest on a thin man bent over near the fallen table, carefully collecting the broken glass.

She flung the blankets from her and swung her legs out of the bed. What would Reese think of her if she slept all day? She was lady of the castle now, and needed to rise with the sun. She sighed slightly. She was used to staying up late and sleeping late. She would have to remedy that.

She froze as her feet touched the floor. How had she gotten into bed? She remembered the storm and trembled slightly. She also recalled a gentle touch, someone tucking her into bed.

The man cleared his throat and she turned to him. “My name is James, m’lady,” he introduced. “I was instructed to aid you.”

“By Lord Reese?”

“No,” James answered standing before her. “By Lady Nicole.”

*****

“I can’t believe you left her there. Alone!”

Reese watched Nicole pace the room. Her blond hair shimmered hotly in the sun’s rays with each angry turn. Her brows angled down over sparkling blue eyes; her tiny fists clenched with rage. His sister had finally been returned safely, as Cullen had promised, and Reese felt relief despite her fury at his treatment of the girl he had wed.

“No one to help her. No one to tend her needs!” Nicole whirled, pinning Reese with an angry glare. “Do you want her to think her husband is a brute?!”

Reese’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t care what she thinks of me.”

Nicole waved a small, impatient hand at him, as if she were waving away an annoying gnat.

“You are a brute. How can you treat her like that?”

“How can you ask me that?” Reese roared, straightening to his intimidating height. “You were the one kidnapped! You were the reason I was forced to wed the girl! If it wasn’t for you---!”

“Don’t start with me, Reese Harrington,” Nicole retorted in a motherly tone, marching up to him. She was a full head shorter than he was, but managed to match him glare for glare. “I’m sure it pricked your manly pride when I was spirited away from beneath your nose.”

Reese ground his teeth. “And now I have another helpless female to watch and to protect!”

“Not just another female, Reese. Your wife!” Nicole jabbed her finger into Reese’s chest.

“I didn’t ask her to be my wife! I don’t want her to be my wife! For all I know she---”

The sound of someone clearing his throat loudly made them turn to the arched entranceway to the room. James stood slightly behind Jayce, his disinterested gaze focused somewhere in the middle of the room.

Nicole dropped her mouth slightly, her cheeks flaming.

Reese stood with his fists clenched, staring at Jayce’s large blue eyes. He saw the hurt flash in those eyes for a moment and thought that surely she was going to burst into tears, forcing him to comfort her.

But for a long moment, Jayce didn’t move, meeting his gaze with a pained resolve. Then, with all the dignity of a queen, she slowly turned and left the room.

Reese and Nicole stood silently in the room, staring after the woman. Reese knew he should go after her, and took a step to do just that, then stopped suddenly. What would he do when he caught up to her? Tell her his words were the truth?

Nicole whirled on her brother, her blue eyes full of disgust and anger. “I pity her for being married to you,” she said, and raced out the door after Jayce.

Reese cursed silently and ran a hand through his thick locks. He lifted his gaze to find James standing in the doorway, staring at him. “What are you looking at?” Reese snapped.

James’s eyebrow rose slightly before Reese hurried past him, out of the room.

Chapter Six

Nicole knocked at the door. When there was no answer after several more knocks, she swept into the room. Jayce sat at the window, staring out over the pastures. She barely looked up, and Nicole noticed the way her shoulders sagged. Her heart ached for the woman. “I’m Reese’s sister, Nicole,” she said. “I am terribly sorry about the way my brother has been treating you.” Unnerved by Jayce’s silence, Nicole walked to stand beside her, peering out the window, following her gaze. A black horse, as black as the darkest night, ran wildly within a fenced-off area, snorting like some possessed demon. Nicole returned her gaze to Jayce. “I do so hope you like your life here,” Nicole said earnestly. “I’d like to be friends.”

Jayce turned to her, and Nicole was pleased to see she was a beautiful woman. Her eyes were startlingly blue and reminded Nicole of the richest sapphires she had ever seen. She knew they would help sway her brother to take her as his rightful wife. He had a fondness for blue eyes.

“Is it true my father kidnapped you?” Jayce wondered.

Surprised, it was all Nicole could do to keep her mouth from falling open. “Well, yes,” she finally answered, looking away from her probing gaze. “But he treated me civilly,” she added quickly.

Jayce turned to stare out the window. Nicole raised her eyes in time to notice a troubled furrow on Jayce’s once-smooth brow. “Do you know why he did it?” Jayce asked.

“His demand was for Reese to marry you,” Nicole answered.

Jayce dropped her gaze to her lap. “It makes no sense,” she murmured.

“What doesn’t?” Nicole wondered.

Jayce turned confused eyes to Nicole. “Why he lied to me. Father told me Reese wanted to marry me.”

Nicole patted her shoulder, comfortingly. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”

“How can I blame Reese for despising me?”

“He doesn’t despise you,” Nicole said. When Jayce turned disbelieving eyes to her, she smiled glumly and shrugged. “He just doesn’t know you.”

“And if he has his way, he never will.”

Suddenly, two female servants entered the room. They began racing about, collecting the sparse items belonging to Jayce. A feeling of dread began to prickle the back of Nicole’s neck.

Jayce slowly rose from her seat at the window, confusion etched in her furrowed brow.

“What’s going on?” Nicole demanded of the servants. “What are you doing?”

One of the women stopped before her. “Lord Reese has instructed us to gather the lady’s belongings.”

Jayce cast Nicole a look of dread.

Reese was tossing his new wife out, returning her to her father. Nicole grabbed Jayce’s hand, squeezing it tightly, reassuringly. “Reese is not that cold. There must be some misunderstanding.”

“There is no misunderstanding,” a voice thundered from the doorway.

Both women turned to find Reese standing there. He filled the doorway, his dark, hulking body blocking out the torchlight from the hallway behind him.

Jayce stepped forward, turning Reese’s cold, hard gaze from his sister to focus on her. “You have every right to turn me out,” she murmured. Then she raised her chin and added, “I would expect that from a coward.”

His teeth clenched, and he pushed himself from the wall, approaching her like a raging storm cloud. “I have been called many things, lady, but never coward.”

Jayce stood her ground. “Then, perhaps it’s time someone told you the truth. If you were brave, you would have faced me to say you were throwing me out instead of having servants tell me.”

A muscle in his cheek twitched and his eyes burned with outrage. Nicole could feel the anger emanating from his body like the heat from a hearth. She watched Jayce match his rage and was proud of her new friend.

“You are not the only one who has been duped,” Jayce proclaimed, her voice gaining strength. “I could have had my choice of husbands who would have been willing, nay, even eager to claim me as wife. And yet, I am saddled with a boorish, unchivalrous lout capable of no feelings for anyone but himself. Well, Reese Harrington, I wouldn’t want you as my husband if you were the last man in all of England!” With that, Jayce pushed past him, out into the hall.

Nicole cast a surprised glance at Reese, which transformed into a victorious grin. She whirled and raced into the hallway after her brother’s new wife. “Jayce!”

Jayce didn’t stop at Nicole’s cry. She stormed down the hallway, her fists clenched.

Nicole caught up to her and seized her wrist, bringing her to a halt. “Jayce!” She smiled.

“You were wonderful! I couldn’t have done better---” Her words died on her lips as her gentle eyes focused on Jayce’s face. Only then did Nicole realize Jayce’s cheeks were wet with tears, and her trembling wasn’t from anger, but from misery. “Oh, my dear,” she murmured, pulling Jayce into an embrace.

Chapter Seven

The great hall was silent that night. Where there was once raucous laughter and loud music, there was now only muted conversation and the plucking of a few harp strings. Many of the peasants and servants cast Reese tentative looks as he sat in his chair on the raised platform that filled the west end of the room.

Reese met the stares with a harsh glare. He refused to feel guilty about returning Jayce to her father. He did not love her.

Still, he had to admire her courage and conviction. No woman had ever stood up to him, spoken to him in such a manner. He was angry, and he knew he should have been insulted. But he wasn’t. Instead, he found himself admiring Jayce. Most other women would have slunk away sobbing to their fathers without saying two words to him. But not Jayce. Her eyes had sparked like the hottest part of a flame.

She was right. And that thought angered him the most. He had only thought of himself; not once had he considered how she felt. He hadn’t even attempted to speak to her. And because of these damnable guilty feelings, he had allowed Nicole to invite Jayce to dine in the great hall before she left in the morning. Jayce sat on the opposite side of Nicole, only two seats away from him. He could feel her presence there; tingles tickled the nape of his neck.

A movement at the far end of the great hall caught Reese’s attention, and he swiveled his head to see Dylan McNaught approaching with the usual spring to his step. Dylan was an eager, innocent, naive young man who had been recently knighted. Reese had hired him instantly, seeing in him the excitement and youth he had missed. Dylan had worked for Reese for a year now and they had become friends. His blond hair and large, boyish, brown eyes promised that in time he would break many women’s hearts. He marched up the center aisle, heading directly for the head table.

Reese watched as he greeted Nicole with a bright smile. “It’s good to see you safe, m’lady,”

Dylan said with a slight bow.

Nicole returned the smile. “Thank you, Dylan,” she answered.

Reese started to rise, but froze as Dylan turned his eyes to Jayce.

“You must be Lady Jayce,” he said, reaching across the table to take her hand. He bent and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I am honored to have you as my lady.”

“Dylan,” Reese called, trying to correct him.

But Dylan’s eyes alighted on Jayce’s face, and dread pierced Reese’s stomach. He opened his mouth to stop Dylan’s words, but knew he wouldn’t be quick enough.

“I vow with all my heart to protect you and serve you as I do Lord Reese,” Dylan promised Jayce, a smile crossing his lips.

Reese groaned and sank back into his chair, shaking his head. Dylan’s grandiose sense of honor was going to cause him untold trouble. Dylan was not a man to break his vow easily. But this was one vow that would have to be broken.

Dylan turned to him. “Lord Reese!” He moved to stand before him. “The border lands are secure. I’ve—“

“Dylan,” Reese said, lowering his voice, “we can discuss business after the meal.”

“Of course,” Dylan replied, rounding the table.

In the face of Dylan’s youthful vibrancy, Reese suddenly felt old and tired.

*****

It was late when Reese finally meandered up to his room. He paused before the door to his chambers. Jayce was in there. He couldn’t bring himself to kick her out of his room, too. He returned to the great hall, moving toward the hearth. It was quiet; all the servants had finished their tasks and were preparing for bed. He stopped in the middle of the room, finally noticing the room’s sole occupant.

Jayce stood before the hearth, her hands folded before her, staring into the fire. Reese walked toward her. He stopped two strides behind her as a waft of roses met his nostrils. He knew he should leave, but then he suddenly found himself speaking. “I’m sorry about all of this,” he said quietly.

He watched as she drew herself up. “So am I,” she finally answered in a curt voice.

The firelight shimmered in her luxurious brown hair. “You’re a lovely woman. I’m sure your father will have no trouble finding you another husband,” Reese said, trying to be reassuring.

She turned to him then, and her blue eyes sparkled like liquid crystal. “Apparently not lovely enough,” she answered, and moved by him.

Reese cringed slightly at her words. She was lovelier than he had imagined. He reached out and clasped her arm, halting her movement. A shock scorched through him at the touch. “You could have been Helen of Troy. It wouldn’t matter. I will not be forced into marriage.” He held her arm a moment longer before releasing her.